The Trail Ahead

I took the photo looking down a trail that winds off the side of the mountain and into the wooded valley that lies between Roundtop Mountain and the next one over. It’s a trail I walk frequently, both with and without the dogs. Although you can’t see it in this photo, I am already starting to see a few leaves here and there that have some touch of fall color to them. I’m pretty sure these aren’t changes brought about by drought or insects. I’m seeing the color mostly on smaller trees, the ones that are only a few years old—perhaps the sap simply has less distance to travel.

I saw the constellation Orion this morning, high in the pre-dawn sky. It was a brief sighting, with both Orion and the slivered moon poking in and out of morning fog. To me, seeing Orion again is like the return of a good friend I haven’t seen in a while. Orion is the “star” of the winter sky, a huge sky-filling warrior that makes other constellations look puny. It first makes an appearance in the evening in early November. The constellation throws its leg over the eastern fence (apologies to Robert Frost), marches across the sky of winter and disappears into the west sometime in March. But today it is up there as a morning sight, high overhead, two months before I can see it in the evening.

Today, a cold rain, tasting of fall, of seasons passed and seasons to come.